Dick’s Sporting Goods’ Motive to Limit Weapon Sales

Following public outcry after the Parkland shooting, Dick’s Sporting Goods has announced that they will begin to limit sales of automatic weapons, and not sell them to anyone under 21. While many celebrate that decision, is it one made by the company out of strategy, or principle? On NPR’s All Things Considered, Maxwell adjunct professor Dana Radcliffe answered this question.

“I mean, it’s a decision that’s consistent with the long-term interests of the firm,” he said. “The reason I say that is that after the Sandy Hook shooting, Dick’s took the assault-style weapons out of the Dick’s stores, but they continued to sell them in the Field & Stream subsidiary. So if it were a matter of principle, it seems like they would have eliminated them from all the stores.”